Girls,

I have purchased breast forms from www.breastformstore.com several times before, and always had an excellent experience. When I decided to buy another pair this week, I looked around and noticed that the vendor set has increased somewhat. After some research, I decided to buy a pair of forms from www.truekare.com, their asymetrical model, size 8. Since they had these with an "imperfect" discount, I ordered these.

The big difference between these forms and those I've had in the past is the adhesive back. The back is protected by a piece of plastic, which peels off to reveal the entire sticky back surface.

I went for the truekare forms because of the price -- a savings of almost 50% versus other vendors -- and had rather pooh-poohed the notion of self-adhesive forms. The vendors themselves, as well as others in the TV/TG/TS community say that it's unlikely you can go braless with these forms; the adhesive is "merely" useful to keep them in place inside your clothes.

So, I wore them a few times with the plastic backing in place, and of course, they sent me straight to transgender heaven, as forms always do in comparison to cheap alternatives, like water balloons. But, after a few hours, I figured it was time to try the adhesive, and see how it performs.

I did this with some fear and trepidation. I'm totally closeted; wife and family away for a week or so, but my chest is rather hairy, and I was a little concerned about what the stickum would do to me. "Well, no guts, no glory," I thought, as I peeled off the plastic from the forms. "How bad could it be, after all?"

I stood in front of the mirror and carefully placed first one form, then the other, on my front. I was rather surprised, then delighted, then ecstatic about how well they stuck. For the first time in my 40-something-year transgender life, I got to experience what it was like to put on a bra over my breasts, as opposed to putting one on so that I could stuff it with them . Oh, yes, more transgender heaven.

I tried on a variety of bras, bathing suits and braless clothing options, and was delighted with the results. The forms will start to peel off around the edges if they're not supported, no doubt about it -- so the vendors and community are right to discount the totally braless option. I'd certainly not go out dancing in a Little Black Dress with nothing holding me together but this adhesive. But, the effect is far superior to non-sticky forms with those pads stuck on the back of them.

Several of my outfits provided enough support to go braless, including a stretchy tank top, a bathing suit with a built-in bra, a very tight teeshirt (oh, yes, wait till you see yourself with a wet teeshirt!). A filmy negligee didn't work; the forms would clearly separate if I slept in them without a bra.

Oh, and before some of you ping me about not sleeping with my forms on -- been there, done that. Having lived with a rather well-endowed GG for 20-something years, I know they don't sleep on their front, because it just doesn't work. Neither do I, en femme. But, waking up in the morning in a nightgown is worth the potential risk of breaking the forms -- which I've never done or heard of.

So, finally, the moment of truth -- taking the forms off. I prepared for the worst, imagining a painful extraction, and seeing their back surfaces covered with my chest hair. But no! Peeling them carefully off my chest, they separated cleanly and took virtually none of my hair with them. AWESOME!

This is the reason I'm starting this thread. I've avoided sticky forms for years because of what I assumed they would do to my chest hair, and that I can't shave without outing myself. Turns out, at least with me, this was not an issue.

And, ladies, the effect of having the forms being a "part" of you, even inside a bra or bathing suit, is easily worth the price of admission. Have you ever tried to do a "shimmy" with loose forms in a bra? Doesn't work too well, because the forms jump around, faithfully obeying Newton's second law of motion. But the adhesive forms are part of your body a lot more than the others, and "I can shimmy like my sister Kate" and everything stays where it oughta.

Bottom line -- self-adhesive forms turned out to be a way better idea than I thought they might.

Other input -- the TrueKare "imperfect" forms I bought were fine. I *think* I can see the imperfection -- a little fold on the underside of the left -- but clearly no big deal.

Hugs,
Susie